Typically, the viewing surveillance of the broadcast program is carried out by a media sensor installed in a television receiver of a target household. The media sensor is the apparatus for specifying a channel viewed by a viewer by detecting the electric wave leaked from the television receiver.
Also, various systems for carrying out the viewing surveillances have been variously proposed. In the case of system described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-135810A (in particular, paragraphs 0014 to 0017 and paragraphs 0030 to 0033, FIG. 2), the history of selected programs is accumulated in a sophisticated portable terminal by which the television receiver is controlled and then transmits the history from the sophisticated function portable terminal through an external network to a viewing rate surveillance company. Then, the viewing rate surveillance company carries out a viewing rate surveillance (viewing surveillance). In a system described in the patent document 1, a sophisticated portable terminal is embodied by integrating a portable telephone or a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) having a character image displaying apparatus, and a remote controller for operating a television receiver into a single unit. The system described in the patent document 1, by using the sophisticated portable terminal, can grasp the viewing frequency of programs, time, taste, tendency or the like of the individual viewers of the television broadcast.
In a system described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2001-177853A (in particular, pages 4 to 6 and FIGS. 1 to 3), a television receiver used by a viewer preliminarily receives an image code (program identification code) to identify a viewing program from a tabulation machine. Then, the television receiver receives a broadcast program to which an image code of a program is added, and compares the image code added to the program with the image code preliminarily received from the tabulation machine. If the image codes are matched, the television receiver generates a viewing history of the program and transmits the viewing history to the tabulation machine. The tabulation machine integrates the viewing histories, generates a integrated data and manages this.
Also, In Yamada Akio, [MPEG-7 Visual Tutorial], Audio Visual Complex Information Processing Symposium 2001, Information Processing Society, pp. 45 to 54, [Color Layout] that is represented so as to be able to discriminating images and [Motion Activity] that is represented so as to be able to discriminating images in accordance with the intensity of motion in the image are introduced.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2000-68956A discloses an individual viewing rate tabulation system, wherein a portable sound collector for modulating a carrier wave of a frequency assigned to an individual in accordance with the sound of a viewed program to which an individual identification signal of a surveillance target person is added and wirelessly transmitting to a viewed program collector is carried in a shape of a watch or tiepin by a plurality of surveillance target persons, and each time the viewed program collector, which analyzes the sounds received from the plurality of portable sound collectors, and extracts characteristic parameter matrix patterns indicative of the features of the sounds, and has a memory that can continuously record the characteristic parameter matrix patterns, the reception times and the individual identification signals of the surveillance target persons, is accessed by a program viewing rate collector tabulation center, the digital data with regard to the characteristic parameter matrix pattern, the reception signal and the individual identification signal of the surveillance target person is transmitted through a telephone modem installed in the view program collector and a telephone line to the program viewing rate tabulation center, and the individual viewing rate is consequently integrated, the individual viewing rate tabulation system being characterized in that the portable sound collector includes a microphone for collecting the sound into the view program and a transmitter for modulating the carrier wave of the frequency assigned to the individual in accordance with the sound signal from the microphone and a transmission signal in which the individual identification signal is multiplexed and transmitting, the view program collector includes: a reception separating circuit for receiving the transmitted sound signal from each of the portable sound collectors received by the plurality of surveillance target persons, demodulating the transmitted sound signal and separating the individual identification signal of the surveillance target person and the music sound signal viewed by each of the surveillance target persons, respectively; a plurality of characteristic parameter extracting circuits for performing an analog digital conversion on the sound signal outputted from the reception separating circuit, and disassembling into one or a plurality of frequency spectra through a digital filter, and extracting amplitude components of each frequency, and then outputting the digital data in which the time change in the amplitude level for each frequency spectrum is sampled at a certain interval, and consequently coping with the plurality of individuals; a data processing circuit that has a program memory for storing an output signal of the characteristic parameter extracting circuit, a time scale and the individual identification signal, a device for recording in turn the output signal of the characteristic parameter extracting circuit and the time scale in the program memory and generating the characteristic parameter matrix pattern of the sound based on the time distribution of the amplitude level and the frequency spectrum of the sound, a device for comparing the time signal received from the program viewing rate tabulation center and a time of a built-in clock and calibrating the time of the built-in clock if the mismatching is detected, a device for recording the individual identification signal of the surveillance target person outputted from the reception separating circuit in the program memory, and a device for transferring the characteristic parameter matrix pattern of the music sound, the individual identification signal of the surveillance target person, and a transferring start and end time signal to the telephone line while adjusting a transfer speed; and a telephone modem for transferring the characteristic parameter matrix pattern of the sound, the individual identification signal of the surveillance target person, and the transferring start and end time signal to the telephone line and receiving the time signal from the program viewing rate tabulation center, and the program viewing rate tabulation center compares the digital data of the characteristic parameter matrix patterns transferred from the plurality of viewed program collectors, the individual identification signals of the surveillance target persons, and the transferring start and end times and the characteristic parameter matrix pattern extracted from the sound at the reception time from the recording of the program of an surveillance target broadcasting station while correcting the difference between the reception time of the viewed program collector and the reception time of the surveillance target broadcasting station, and then specifies the viewed program and consequently integrates the individual viewing rates of the program.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2000-307530A discloses a wearable viewing rate meter system provided with broadcast receivers of surveillance targets, wearable viewing rate meters, public wireless base stations in a mobile communication network, a telephone network and a viewing rate tabulation center, the wearable viewing rate meter system being characterized by being provided with: the wearable viewing rate meter which has a function for collecting a sound of a viewed program of a surveillance target person from a built-in microphone, extracting a characteristic parameter of the sound, and transferring a propagation packet where a set of a viewed program sound data constituted by the characteristic parameter, a view time, an identification code of the surveillance target person and a transfer time is multiplexed, and can be always possessed by the surveillance target person; the public wireless base station of the mobile communication network which has a function for adding a base station identification code to the propagation code; and the viewing rate tabulation center which has a function for receiving the propagation packet through the telephone network from the public wireless base station, a function for receiving all broadcast programs (hereafter, referred to as standard programs) that can be received at a view time in a view territory, a function for extracting the characteristic parameter of the sound of the standard program and generating a standard program packet where one set of a broadcast territory, a program name and a broadcast time are multiplexed for the standard program sound data constituted by the characteristic parameter, and a function for sequentially selecting the standard program packets in accordance with the base station identification code and the view time separated from the propagation packet, and determining a relative relation between the characteristic parameter included in the packet and the characteristic parameter included in the propagation packet, and specifying the program in accordance with this relative work.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2000-358255A discloses an interactive television broadcast system, characterized in that the interactive television broadcast system has: a supply source apparatus for supplying programs of a plurality of television programs and data through a broadcast; and a plurality of receiving apparatuses each having a selecting device for carrying out a channel selection to receive one television channel from television channels transmitted by the supply source apparatus, a processing device for judging the channel received by the receiving apparatus in response to the data transmitted from the supply source apparatus, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the information related to the channel being received by the receiving apparatus to a data collecting apparatus which is commonly installed.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2001-69098A discloses a data broadcasting method which broadcasts a data broadcast program composed of a plurality of pages in such a way that one page of them can be selected by a receiving person side, and the receiving person side can receive the provision of information for each selection instruction page, the data broadcasting method being characterized in that a broadcasting apparatus for broadcasting the data broadcast program broadcasts a control information to control a receiving apparatus for receiving the data broadcast program by including it in a broadcast signal of the data broadcast program so that the receiving person side replies the information as to which of pages is selected, and the receiving apparatus for receiving the data broadcast program replies the information as to which of the pages is selected by the receiving person side, through a predetermined communication path to the broadcasting apparatus, in response to the control information included in the broadcast signal of the data broadcast program.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2001-298433A discloses a viewing rate surveillance apparatus that is an apparatus set in a home so as to transmit a data with regard to a broadcast program viewed in the home as a viewing surveillance data, and includes: a receiving device for receiving an extracted data whose data amount is reduced by using a specifying algorithm from a broadcast output data of each broadcast station; a received extracted data storing device for accumulating the received extracted data; a broadcast data storing device for recording the broadcast output data actually being viewed in the broadcast receiver; a determining device for comparing the extracted data and the broadcast output data and determining the viewed broadcast station; and a transmitting unit for transmitting the determined station as the already viewed data to the viewing rate surveillance center.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-10230A discloses an image delivering method for extracting a characteristic value for a subject in an image and delivering the characteristic value and the image through a network, the image delivering method being characterized in that a user edits a delivery request of an image content and the characteristic value of the image content to a center, and the center extracts the image content corresponding to the delivery request, from an image archive storing the image content composed of particular items including the information of the kind of the image, and also extracts the characteristic value corresponding to the image content from a characteristic value storing device, and then delivers to the user of the edition source of the delivery request.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-58049A discloses a broadcast checking apparatus for checking a broadcast of a content including an image, the broadcast checking apparatus being characterized by including: an accumulating device for accumulating a characteristic value of the content; a content characteristic value extracting device for extracting the characteristic value of the content from a broadcast signal; a content registering device for registering the characteristic value of the content extracted by the content characteristic value extracting device in the accumulating device, a first characteristic value calculating device for calculating the characteristic value from the broadcast signal; a comparing device for comparing the characteristic value calculated by the first characteristic value calculating device and the characteristic value on the accumulating device; and a recording device for recording the comparison result obtained from the comparison.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-77436A discloses a television viewing rate surveillance method, characterized by including: a remote commander for controlling a television receiver; a time measuring device, a storing device; a data storing device which, if there is an on/off operation of a power source of the television receiver and a channel selection operation between the on/off, stores a time data of the time measuring device at each operation point as for the on/off operation, and the operation time data as for the channel separation operation and the selected channel data, in the storing device, respectively; a data transmitting unit in a PHS (personal handy-phone system) telephone or a portable telephone; and a transmission control device which, each time the time measuring device measures a predetermined time, instructs the data transmitting unit to transmit a preliminarily given terminal identification data and the data stored in the storing device to a mail address of a data tabulation center prepared for a mail server on a network of the PHS telephone or the portable telephone, wherein the remote commander is lent to the predetermined number of television possession homes serving as monitors, and the data tabulation center side accesses a mail box of the mail address periodically or at a desirable time and then collects and processes the data and consequently determines a household viewing rate of the television.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-142234A discloses a receiving apparatus that can totalize a viewing rate or hearing rate of a broadcast, characterized by at least including: a separating device of a content information for separating and extracting the content information to specify what is at least the content, from the content sent synchronously with the broadcasted content; a data generating device, which correspondingly to the content during reception, generates the extracted content information, a station information to specify a broadcast station broadcasting the content, a time information to specify a time when the content is received, as the data to totalize the viewing rate or hearing rate; and a data accumulating device for accumulating the data generated by the data generating device.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-271286A discloses a viewing data collecting system of a digital broadcast, wherein in a digital data broadcast system provided with: a digital broadcast station for carrying out a data broadcast service; a non-volatile storing portion for storing a data; a communication line interface, a digital data broadcast receiver having a central operation processor for receiving a data broadcast program data transmitted from a broadcast station and interpreting it and generating a data broadcast screen; and a center server for receiving the data transmitted from this receiver, as necessary, through a communication line network and managing a database to totalize them, since the receiver includes a viewing surveillance executing device for recording an identification information of a viewing broadcast station or viewing program together with a time at that time at a certain time interval in the non-volatile storing portion, and transferring the data recorded in the non-volatile storing portion at the larger certain time interval through the communication line interface to the center server, the data broadcast enabling the collection of the viewing surveillance data is used.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-300126A discloses a data collecting system in which a data collection managing dealer affiliates with a mobile body manager and collects a collection data including a program viewing data of a mobile body broadcast in each mobile body, the data collecting system being characterized by including: a receiving apparatus which is installed in the mobile body managed by the mobile body manager and collects and accumulates the viewing data of the mobile body broadcast; a data relaying apparatus which is installed in a mobile body managing facility managed by the mobile body manager and receives the accumulated collection data from the receiving apparatus of the mobile body and transmits to a data totalizing destination; and a data totalizing apparatus which is installed in a data totalizing station managed by the data collection managing dealer and receives the collection data transmitted from the data relaying apparatus and carries out a predetermined totalization and analysis.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-305760A discloses a viewing history information collecting system, characterized by including: a program broadcasting device for broadcasting a program; an operating device; a program accumulating and reproducing device for accumulating and reproducing the program received from the program broadcasting device, in response to an operation of the operating device; a history information collecting device for collecting a viewing history information of the program accumulated in the program accumulating and reproducing device including an operation history information of the operating device; a transmitting unit for transmitting the viewing history information collected by the history information collecting device through a communication path; and a history information storing device for storing the viewing history information received from the transmitting unit through the communication path.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-335543A discloses a viewing state surveillance method, characterized by including; a step of receiving a broadcast stream containing a viewing state data obtainment script; a step of executing the viewing state data obtainment script; and a step of transmitting the obtained viewing state data to a center computer, wherein the executing step checks whether or not a member identification information indicative of a monitor member is stored in a predetermined region, and obtains the viewing state data only if the member identification information is stored.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2002-344933A discloses a viewing information collecting system that includes: a broadcasting facility for generating a program data composed of an image information of a program and a voice information, and a predetermined program addition information related to the program, and using a data broadcast and then broadcasting the program addition information together with the program data; a plurality of broadcast receiving terminals for receiving the program data corresponding to the program selected by a viewer and the program addition information, and automatically generating and transmitting the viewing information where a program reception information to specify a reception program extracted from the program addition information and a viewer information with regard to the viewer are combined; and a viewing information server for receiving the viewing information transmitted from the plurality of broadcast receiving terminals, respectively, and generating a marketing information on which a desirable analyzing/treating process is performed for each program provider in accordance with the respective viewing information and then transmitting to the program provider.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 08-280075 discloses an infrared ray remote control signal information detecting apparatus for detecting an infrared ray remote control signal emitted to operate a surveillance target sample having a light receiving portion for receiving the infrared ray remote control signal, the infrared ray remote control signal information detecting apparatus being characterized by having an infrared ray emitting portion which is placed so as to cover the light receiving portion of the surveillance target sample and transmits an infrared ray signal corresponding to the infrared ray remote control signal detected by the infrared ray remote control signal information inspecting apparatus, to the light receiving portion of the surveillance target sample.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 09-065299 discloses a receiving apparatus characterized by including: a program signal receiving device for receiving a program signal to which a program identification information is added; a program identification information separating device for separating the program identification information from the program signal received by the program signal receiving device; and a first information storing device for storing the program identification information separated by the program identification information separating device.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 10-112829 discloses an image broadcasting system in which a broadcast station side transmits a picture signal through an electric wave or cable to a receiver side of a viewer, the image broadcasting system being characterized in that the broadcast station includes a device for inserting a scrambled or encrypted subliminal picture signal into the picture signal, and the receiver side includes: a device for extracting the scrambled or encrypted subliminal image from the received picture signal; a device for decoding the extracted scrambled or encrypted subliminal image under condition that an allowance signal is inputted; a device for synthesizing the decoded subliminal image with front and rear images and displaying; and a device for inputting the allowance signal.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 11-275607 discloses a television viewing rate surveillance system, characterized by having: an infrared ray receiving device for receiving an infrared ray signal emitted by an infrared ray remote controller; an operation judging device which, when the infrared ray remote controller is operated, analyzes the infrared ray signal received by the infrared ray receiving device in accordance with a pre-stored predetermined format and judges a television operation content; a program viewing information storing device for storing a program viewing information generated correspondingly to the judged result by the operation judging device; and a communication control device which is connected an existing communication system and transmits the program viewing information stored in the program viewing information storing device, in response to a request, through the existing communication system to a center apparatus side.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-A-Heisei, 11-284584 discloses a program selection history information obtaining apparatus for obtaining a selection history information of a program selected from programs of a plurality of channels, the program selection history information obtaining apparatus being characterized by including: a storing device for storing the selection information of the program at a predetermined obtaining timing; and a transmitting unit for transmitting the selection history information composed of the plurality of selection information stored for each of the plurality of obtaining timings to a predetermined report destination at a predetermined timing that is peculiarly assigned.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application JP-P 2003-502936A discloses a viewing rate surveillance system, the system being composed of: (A) a plurality of portable monitoring units assigned to users who are target persons of a viewing rate panel, where each of the portable monitoring units records an information indicating a free sound field sound signal received by the portable monitoring unit, and the information indicating the free sound field sound signal contains an information indicating a content of the free sound field sound signal and a time stamp information indicating a time when the free sound field sound signal is received by the portable monitoring unit; (B) a central broadcast collecting facility for recording the information indicating sound signals propagated from a plurality of sound sources, where with regard to each sound signal, the information recorded by the central broadcast collecting facility contains the information indicating the content of the sound signal, the time stamp information indicating the time when the sound signal is received by the central broadcast collecting facility, and the sound source information indicating the sound source propagating the sound signal; and (C) a computer for identifying the sound source selected by each user of the portable monitoring unit between a plurality of time intervals different from each other, in accordance with the information recorded by the portable monitoring unit and the information recorded by the central broadcast collecting facility.